KP, Clarke have costliest base price at IPL auction

England's dethroned captain Kevin Pietersen and Australian vice captain Michael Clarke are to command the top two reserve prices of $1.35 and $1 million.

Written by Press Trust of India

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England's dethroned captain Kevin Pietersen and Australian vice captain Michael Clarke are to command the top two reserve prices of $1.35 and $1 million, respectively, during the second Indian Premier League players' auction to be held in Goa on February 6.

England's charismatic all rounder Andrew Flintoff's base price has been pegged at $950,000 in the auction for which a final list of 43 players nominated by the eight franchisees to go under the auctioner's hammer was announced by the IPL on Monday.

As per the guidelines set by the Governing Council for the DLF IPL 2009, each franchisee will have a maximum purse of $2 million, less any amount spent on signing temporary replacements from last year to select the cricketers best suited for their team's strategies.

A total of 15 Australians, four Bangladeshis, seven Englishmen, three New Zealanders, five South Africans, four Sri Lankans and five West Indians would go under the hammer, the IPL said.

The first IPL auction last year saw current Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni being bought by Chennai Super Kings for a whopping $1.5 million, setting the benchmark for a tumultuous day of auctioning of top players from around the world.

The second-best signing was of controversial Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds who was bought by Deccan Chargers for $1.35 million.

These two players were the only millionaire signings last year in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 League. The second edition is set to kick off on April 10.